Sunday, July 14, 2013

Tornado Relief Concert

If you recall my Life Planner post here... I marked July 6th with the Toby Keith benefit concert.  

In May, Oklahoma had several devastating tornados.  I wrote a little about it here. We actually had 2 concerts to raise money for the victims.  The first one was sponsored by my boyfriend, Blake Shelton.   This one was actually nationally televised, so maybe you saw it.  I actually was on 2 computers and 2 cell phones 10 minutes before these tickets went on sale... and still didn't get any.  They sold out in less than 5 minutes. How does this happen?  



I set up multiple devises again to make sure I didn't miss out on Toby Keith's concert. I was lucky to get 4 tickets, but I contribute my great fortune to my good karma :)  Anyway, I digress..  


The line-up included: 
Toby Keith
Garth Brooks
Trisha Yearwood
Kelly Coffee
Mel Tillis
Wade Hayes
Ronnie Dunn
Sammy Hagar
John Anderson

Our governor, Mary Fallen was there too.  And for good measure, our beloved football coach Bob Stoops made an appearance.  Apparently, Toby Keith has connections.

The concert was jam packed with celebrities, so the party got started at 3pm.  Did I mention that this concert was in the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!) stadium?  OUTSIDE.  It was only 95 degrees in the cool open space in my front yard, but it had to be 125 degrees in the stadium.  For real. Oh, and we missed the first couple of artists because we had a 2 mile walk to the stadium from the nearest available parking spot. I should of known better - it's not like I didn't attend every dang football game there for a couple of years.

We arrived just in time for Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood!  Trisha sang "She's in Love with the Boy". I know every single word.  Garth sang several songs, but my favorites were "The Thunder Rolls" and "The Dance".  So incredible.

Ashley, Jessica, Kendall


After Garth, Ashley and I went down to the concession area for a Margarita/Daiquiri mix.  After 45 minutes in line, we scored the very last ones!

$12 gets you 20 ounces.

Willie Nelson came out.   That's when I started to feel sick and immediately regretted the margarita.  I had to leave the stands and find a cool area - I thought I was going to join the 50 other people we saw pass out.  I stayed down in the concession area and enjoyed people watching for a while.  I've seen Willie Nelson a couple of times in concert, so I wasn't too upset.



Look at all those people!
 They said that this was the largest concert ever held in Oklahoma. 65,000 people.  That's a lot - even more than the U2/Black Eyed Peas concert we went to a couple years back.  Our stadium actually holds 90,000 people, so can you imagine what our football games are like?!  One thing that really stood out was all of the colors of clothes in the stadium. We are used to solid crimson throughout the entire stadium.

Not sure which artist was on.. not the greatest seat


It finally cooled down around 7:30pm after Sammy Hagar and the weather was PERFECT.   I had no idea who Sammy Hagar was, but everyone else seemed to.  If you are as dense as I am when it comes to rock music.. Sammy Hagar was the lead singer of Van Halen.  I have heard of Van Halen, but wouldn't be able to name one of their songs if my life depended on it.  Judge away.



Pregnant Kendall holding a beer.
Relax, it was mine :)


 Ronnie Dunn (from Brooks & Dunn) was awesome!



Oh, let me give you the line-up: 

Carrie Underwood joined us live from the Grand Ol' Opry. I was sad she couldn't be in Oklahoma with us, but she looked and sounded great. I just love her new song, "Until I See You Again". 


Lighting wasn't so great for pics
 And then there was this lady... she was a super star, let me tell you.  She danced and held her beer up for every. single. song. I loved her!




Toby Keith wrapped up the concert and of course sang "Red Solo Cup".  Not even close to my favorite Toby Keith song, but it sure does have a catchy tune.  They should have had red cups, but my guess is the clear ones are cheaper..

"I love you Red Solo Cup, I fill you up, let's have a party... "


 And the grand finale was fireworks - great show!









8 hours and $200 later (only a single t-shirt to show for it), we ventured back to our car.  Overall, a fantastic evening with some of my favorite people!





Weekend Wrap Up

Not a single home cooked meal was had all weekend long.....


It all started on Friday night. James's sweet grandma, Phyllis, turned 78 years old on Friday.   I called her earlier in the week to see where she wanted to celebrate.  She chose Furr's.  Furr's used to be a cafeteria style restaurant; I remember as a kid getting so excited over the Jello. Ah, times have changed. I was pleasantly surprised that Furr's has upgraded to a buffet...

Is Furr's just an Oklahoma thing?



And what's a birthday without candles and a Happy Birthday jingle???

She is orchestrating as we sing her
"Happy Birthday". So stinkin cute!

After dinner, I met my mom and Aunt Ethel for a little casino fun. We wrapped that up around 2 o'clock in the MORNING.. oh. em. gee.  

This is my Auntgranny Ethel.  Not a great shot, but I was afraid the casino
police would kick me out for taking pictures.
It was a late night full of great fun - the drive back to Henryetta was long, but I had the BEST company.   

The next afternoon (when I finally drug myself out of bed), I went to "town" for some food. My aunt and I love to have what we call "fast food buffets".   Let me illustrate what that looks like:

First stop: Mazzio's Pizza
2nd Stop: Sonic

3rd stop: Kentucky Fried Chicken

4th stop: Arby's (forgot a pic of the sack)


Menu:

  • Mazzio's: Large order of cheese dippers accompanied by a family size order of Ranch.
  • Sonic: Footlong chili and cheese coney, cheesy tater tots, 2 chocolate shakes
  • Kentucky Fried Chicken: 5 buffalo wings and a side of cole slaw (sadly, cole slaw was the healthiest thing I picked up).
  • Arby's: Cherry, Apple and Chocolate turnovers


This should be illegal.  My mom would have had a complete meltdown if I ever suggested doing this with her, but Aunt Ethel totally embraces it :)

Don't worry - this was split between 4 adults and eaten over a 48 hour period.

I came home today and picked up Chinese take out for lunch and then after church, picked up Braums hamburgers for dinner.  I think I need a home cooked meal.. if only I could talk myself into the grocery store.  Heck, I'm so full I should probably just skip meals on Monday and Tuesday.  No chance.

Hope y'all had a great weekend.  And that's a wrap!!







Monday, July 1, 2013

Life Planner

I used to be organized.

I fell off the organizational wagon, so I'm looking for ways to get my life back in order.  Last year I bought a Life Planner by Erin Condren.  I used it on occasion, but really didn't utilize it as much as I should have.  I purchased a new one this year and I am determined to use it!


It takes a few weeks to come in, but it is well worth the wait!
Super cute, right?


There are a quotes throughout the planner that I love :)


You'll notice that July 6th I am going to the Toby Keith benefit concert for the tornado victims.  I'm so excited to help contribute to these worthy families and the concert line up is awesome!  You'll see a follow-up next week on the concert.


The planner comes with these fun stickers - there are a ton of them and it gives
just enough of a color splash to keep me excited, lol 





No, I am not getting paid to say any of this. I just like it better than any other planner I've purchased.   It is a little pricier than the others, but I love it!   Occasionally, Plum District and Zulily have a special where you can buy a $25 certificate for $50 worth of Erin Condren products.  If you get a chance - do it!

As if I didn't explain it well enough... here's a fun video of all it does, Enjoy!